TRUTH BEHIND JOE D.’S BUBBA ‘SNUB’

BETTER late than never. I think Bill Clinton will be pleased to learn the late Joe DiMaggio didn’t famously snub him because of the Monica Lewinsky affair.

The then-president had asked for the Yankee Clipper to be seated next to him at the glittering Time magazine 75th-anniversary dinner at Radio City in March 1998.

When Joe refused the honor at the very last moment, the media widely reported that the All-American hero disapproved of Clinton’s conduct.

In fact, Joe’s friend and foot doctor, Rock Positano, now reports, nothing could have been further from the truth. DiMaggio admired Clinton and paid no heed to the intern affair or any of the other bimbo stories.

“Joe simply was honoring his promise to his pal Henry Kissinger to sit with him at the dinner,” Rock told Baird Jones when the inquisitive Webster Hall art curator was having his regular foot treatment the other day.

“Joe greatly regretted that his action was taken as a snub to the president, but he was so nonverbal that he couldn’t correct the misconception,” Positano said.

The doctor, by the way, has just set up the Foot Center at New York Presbyterian with colleagues David S. Levine and David Helfet. I hear it’s going to be dedicated to DiMaggio’s memory.

Elaine’s elite

WHEN “Gump” author Winston Groom is in town from his Southern home, he heads straight for Elaine’s and a bull session with cronies like George Plimpton. He was in the other night after a meeting with director Oliver Stone, who is interested in making a movie out of one of Winnie’s earlier books, “Garwood.”

Also in the saloon was Russ Kagan, whose “Jesus” miniseries was a ratings hit for CBS. Russ will be in Malta and Rome in August, starting production on his next epic, “Caesar.” Joan Collins (who once played Cleopatra) and young squeeze Percy Gibson just missed hooking up with Kagan.

Democratic National Committeeman Robert Zimmerman came in fresh from a trip to Texas, where he was seeing to Kennedy Center business. And White House photographer David Kennerly (sitting with Newsweek honchos) was just back from shooting President Bush’s European trip.

Jersey Clintons

AS soon as tomorrow’s Jersey GOP primary is out of the way, I hear that Bill and Hillary Clinton will start phoning for Democrat Jim McGreevey in this year’s gubernatorial campaign. McGreevey expects to be facing Bret Schundler, an anti-abortion, pro-gun conservative, and will not be afraid of getting the support of the liberal Clintons.

Coup de ballet

WITH ballet booming in New York, it’s no surprise that dance legend Mikhail Baryshnikov is relocating his White Oak Dance project from Philadelphia to Manhattan. The Philadelphia Daily News reports he has signed for three floors of the new theater complex being readied at 450 W. 37th St. This is a feather in the caps of the developers – who include “Rent” producers Kevin McCollum and Jeffrey Seller – whose $17 million project is scheduled to open in October 2002.

Party poop

MANY invited to Tom Cruise’s 39th-birthday party on July 6 at the Buffalo Club in L.A. are having a hard time deciding whether to accept. That’s because the annual bash has always been attended by the closest friends of Tom and his now-estranged wife, Nicole Kidman, and they hate having to pick sides. But this being Hollywood, the player with the most clout wins, so in the end, Tom is likely to get a full house.